Hollow Victories
by GibbousLunation
Summary: Bolin always hoped he'd get his chance to prove his worth, to be the real hero. He just never expected it to come so soon, or for it to be so empty.
1. New Skills

A/N: I kinda disappeared off the planet for a while there I realize, and I know I have two other stories I should be working on rather than starting a whole brand new one but I'm in a bit of a rut and need to break myself out of it currently. What better way to get out of a writing funk than to write a drabble for a completely different series? Well, there are probably better ways actually ha. I do apologize for my sudden absence and I plan on continuing the other stories, life has a bad habit of throwing me completely off track it seems. The good news is that I finally regained some of my muse, the bad news is that it's entirely towards a brand new series. Whoops. Again, though, I'm not giving up on the other two if you happen to be reading this and happened to be a fan; I'm just trying to shake off some rust here by trying something different.

Anyways, I absolutely love the dynamic between the two brothers. I would really love to explore it more, so I dunno, I might potentially continue this somehow or I might just let it be. All depends.

I'm not a fan of this ending to be honest, but I could feel it getting away from me a little. Hopefully it's not too all over the place ahah

I'm rambling here though, so, for those of you who bothered to read that chunk of text, I apologize for the long winded introduction. I hope you enjoy! Please feel free to comment or shoot me a message if you would like!

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><p>Bolin was so tired of running.<p>

His whole life had been a series of dodging near death, avoiding dead end situation, slipping right out from under deaths door. He'd never really found himself in a position where there was no trapdoor, no hidey hole or way around. Besides, Mako was the one with the blazing fists. He was the Big Brother, and nobody's shadow had ever been more safe or more secure. Even as a young kid, in the middle of winter and scrounging for food in the streets, there was the ever present confidence that everything would be just fine. Mako would handle it.

As a ten year old with an eight year old baby brother who was too optimistic for his own good, it couldn't have been easy. Mako had needed to grow up too fast, to accept the harsh parts of life long before most adults had grasped the concept. Life had it out for them in some way or another, and Mako had taken that as a challenge. For that, how could Bolin be anything but immensely grateful, and a little heart broken.

He wished he could be the strong one, that he could be the one to save Mako from the impossible, that his endlessly strong big brother could catch a break once in a blue moon. Most of all he wished that they could stop running.

They had found a family, after all these years; they had people who were looking out for the two of them. They had trust, and love, and warmth that could never compare to the frozen nights huddled around dwindling flames from Mako's shaking hands. The shadow under Mako's eyes had faded, his narrow and cold features blurring slightly along the edges. He'd finally begun to shake the echo of heart break and self hatred he'd been carrying since their parents died.

Bolin remembered, in spots, faded, how Mako had idolized and loved their father. He'd been with them when they'd gone down, in the market. Bolin had been at home, with a cold and a neighbour nearby keeping a careful eye on him. He remembered Mako coming home, shaking and sheet white. He'd avoided looking at Bolin, kept his voice low, and spoke to the neighbour in a hurried tone. The lady had gasped, shot Bolin a pitying look, and Bolin never saw her again. He remembered Mako stumbling over to where he was propped up in his bed, and pulling him close to his chest. Bolin knew something was terribly wrong, but Mako just kept whispering nonsensical things to him and running a hand through his hair and there was no more room for questions. There'd been a hitch in his breath and a tremble in his words, but he didn't cry.

Mako never cried.

He knew it had less to do with being unemotional or cold, it had everything to do with his need to protect, his desire to shield his sunshine filled, wide eyed, baby brother from the scary and horrible facts of life.

But Bolin wasn't a kid. He could stand on his own, he could deal with life as it came at them. He'd known for years that the people Mako worked with were not good people, that the way they'd gotten food each day was not exactly legal. Bolin had done everything he could to make up for it, in small acts of kindness, but he never questioned the things Mako did for them.

Bolin wasn't oblivious. Life had given them a short end, but rather than allow it to ruin everything else, Bolin had elected to fight against it in his own little way. With smiles and humor and a refusal to allow life to keep him down. Stubbornness was an earthbender thing, he'd been told. So maybe it was time he truly did stand his ground. What point was there in turning tail and hiding? He was sick of losing.

He wasn't going to give in this time. Not when they had things to fight for outside of themselves, not when they'd both found more than just… Surviving.

Going back to a life of barely scraping by, of living day to day and hoping for an 'eventually' that they both knew to some degree would never show up; Bolin couldn't bear the thought of that.

He'd always wanted his chance to save the day, to be the real hero and return the favour to his big bro for looking out for him all these years. He just never expected that it would be so lackluster; so bleak and hopeless.

They had their backs against the wall, literally and figuratively, Tenzin was too weak to airbend anyone let alone himself, and Bolin was beginning to feel desperation clawing up his throat. Heat from the lava was pouring in waves towards them, and Bolin knew there was nothing his earthbending could do to stop it this time.

It was too soon, far too soon, to be facing their goodbyes. Asami deserved so much better than to die in a miserable cave, Tenzin's family needed him, Korra needed all of them. They'd just started getting used to the idea of having friends, Bolin had a girlfriend he would move the world for. Mako had finally begun to smile, the frown lines decreasing little by little; for all of that to end now…

It wasn't fair.

Bolin stepped forward, towards the molten wave they could now see rushing towards them.

He felt like crying.

He glanced at Mako, a split second desire to ask him for guidance filling him, before he noticed the broken, deeply afraid expression on his consistently calm and level headed brother's face. Mako caught his gaze, and something inside of Bolin shifted. Settled.

He ran towards the rush of scalding heat.

"Bo!"

Mako's voice sounded so faint and hollow, Bolin couldn't stand it.

He thought of Asami and how fiercely determined she was, how loyal she was and how kind she'd been to everyone despite everything. He thought of Meelo, and Ikki, and Jinora, and all of Tenzin's loving family. The gaunt and exhausted expression on Tenzin's face flashed in Bolin's mind. He thought of Korra, how scared she must be, but the amount of strength she had to keep pushing on to do what was right anyways. He thought of Opal, and grandma and Mako and Eska and everyone he'd ever loved.

And he pushed back against the lava with everything he had.

The heat was unbearable, suffocating. It wrapped itself around him, swarming into every space and every pore. Bolin felt it in his skin, surging through him. He focused on the feeling, letting it wind through him and away. Just when it got to be overwhelming, when he could no longer tell the heat from his veins, he felt himself ground his feet and a roar pour out of his lips.

Not. Today.

It pulled at him from the very bottom of his toes, the tips of his fingers. Sweat pooled around his neck, and evaporated immediately after. It was like running in a swamp, but he found a foothold, a foot in the door, and he pushed on it with all of his strength.

And suddenly, the heat was gone. He blinked at the wall of rock in front of him.

A wave of shock and relief ran over him, so powerful he stumbled backwards a few steps.

"Incredible," Tenzin muttered.

"Bolin, you're a lava bender!" Mako's voice followed after. There was something a little like surprise and a lot like awe, in his exclamation. Bolin didn't know what to think. The immensity of what Bolin had just done seemed to have swept them all away momentarily. A lava bender.

"I know, I just found out." He wavered a bit in place, knee giving out for a split second, but he felt lighter than air.

Maybe the fates had decided to give them this one break, maybe they'd decided that after everything, they'd earned the chance to fight for happiness. Maybe they could stop running, and start fighting back.

Or maybe, they were just evening out the playing field in time for something even bigger. Knowing their luck, this was only the beginning.

He wanted to cry, or scream, or laugh until he ran out of breath. He felt dizzy, and deeply rooted to the ground all at once. His feet moved of their own accord and he was abruptly staring into deep, awed, golden eyes.

Mako and him had always had a special connection, a way of speaking without words. In one glance, Mako saw enough to fill pages and pages. He saw pride, and fear, and a tangle of confusion. He saw the exact moment when the paradigm Mako had of him broke apart, and a new outline begin to form.

He wanted, desperately to hug his brother. To sweep Asami up in a huge bear hug. He wanted to say that Mako didn't have to be scared anymore for him. Except, there was an emptiness about them all. Except that it didn't really mean anything more to Bolin himself than just another break.

So, maybe he could lava bend now. Maybe that meant they stood as more of a threat than pests. So what. There were more important concerns.

So instead, he just blinked and kept moving.

People still needed them. There was work to do.


	2. Boiling Over

A/N: I decided I wanted to continue this, yeah. I have a vague idea of where I want to go with this one, more so than I do for my other chaptered story, so hopefully that means I'll be updating more regularly ahah. I guess this kinda takes on a bit of a darker tone, but I'm trying to keep it as light hearted and Bolin-esque as possible so don't be too afraid!

And I know, two updates in the span of a day? Unheard of! I mentioned this once before, but I write a lot better when I'm not in a good mood aahah I'm also going to be pretty busy the next couple of days, so I wanted to get this out there before I lost my mojo. The next bit probably won't be for a little while, unless I get really inspired by political science textbooks or something, but I will do my best to have another chapter in a reasonable amount of time.

Again, please let me know what you think! I'd love to hear your feedback in particular on this chapter as I'm not super confident about the direction I'm taking this in ahah. Thank you and I hope you enjoy!

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><p>Something wasn't right, and not in the usual sort of ominous bad vibe sort of way. It was more tangible, like his center had been thrown off or misplaced; like a heaviness had been infused into his blood. At the same time, Bolin felt strangely light, like his head wasn't connected to his hands or his feet. He hadn't told anyone about it, after they'd gotten Korra back and he'd first realized the difference, there'd been too much going on. Too many were injured and there was Korra to worry about, Bolin was fine. He was fine, honest.<p>

It was just that there was a tremor beginning in his left thumb, a strange sort of off tempo twitching that he couldn't control. It was just that he always felt just slightly on the side of too warm constantly, sweat dripped from his forehead sporadically and he felt suffocated. It was just that when he slept, his dreams were too bright and too fast, and he woke up gasping for air in strange places; he'd started sleepwalking, in the few short hours he did actually sleep.

Mako knew something was wrong too, but like everyone else, there was too much to do to sit around talking about feelings. Bolin couldn't hide the rings under his eyes, or the hollowness of his cheeks, but he found reasons to smile and that seemed to be enough for everyone. Everyone was okay, more or less, and everyone was home. Korra would live, which was the most important development.

Opal had taken to holding his left hand, but if it was because she noticed the trembling, she didn't say anything.

The Earth Kingdom was a complete disaster zone, there were fires, and starving families, and broken hopes everywhere. Tenzin might never walk right again, Korra didn't even speak for the first week after she woke up. Bolin could stand a little heaviness, he was stronger than that. Instead, he kept himself busy. Helping out where he could with sending supplies out to people, lending a hand where he was needed, going for long walks with Opal whenever chance he could.

And the tremor continued.

_"Bolin, you're a lavabender!"_

_He turned to his brother, grinning from ear to ear. The day was saved thanks to Captain Bolin._

_"No need for applause citizens, just doing my job." Korra hugged him, Asami hi fived him, Opal suddenly dipped him over her knee and kissed him. _

_Mako looked proud, a teary smile on his face, and everyone looked whole. "Mom and Dad would be so proud of you, Bo," he said. _

_"You saved the day, thanks for stopping the Red Lotus, Bolin!" Korra said. _

_And everyone was smiling, Bolin felt so relieved. A new voice echoed towards him, he looked over his shoulder to see his parents and Mako smiling and clapping. Bolin blinked and his thumb was twitching. _

_His thumb was twitching and there was lava racing towards his parents, a wave swarming behind them and they weren't moving. His thumb was twitching and suddenly Opal and Asami melted away into pools of red heat, Korra smiling obliviously in front of him. His thumb was twitching and he couldn't move, his feet sunk down into molten light. He couldn't speak, or think, beyond an unending stream of panic. It was too hot, his brain was melting away in front of him. Bolin sunk down farther, Korra was laughing, tears streaming down from white, glowing eyes. Mako was enveloped in a wall of fire, clapping, even as he burned away. Bolin was screaming, he was screaming but it sounded like laughter and-_

He gasped awake, his breath catching in his lungs, leaving him hunched on himself as coughs ripped through him. He couldn't breathe, his lungs were closing up like smoke pouring down them, his throat was narrowing he could feel it. "-lin! Bolin, listen to me! You have to breathe slower. Come on, Bo!"

Bolin abruptly registered the feeling of someone shaking him, and he gulped in a breath. He tried to slow down, concentrating on the voice and the hand on his arm to pull him away from the lava and the fire. As his breathe returned to him, he registered the voice as Opal's. She'd been staying the night after a long night of moving supplies and scouting the Earth Kingdom, they must have fallen asleep after settling back on the couch.

Bolin's shoulders unclenched, his breath evening out and the coughs finally subsiding. He managed to uncurl slightly, and squeezed his eyes shut. "'M sorry," he mumbled, energy abruptly depleted. Cold sweat was drying on his skin, he felt disgusting. Opal brushed a hand through his tangled hair, hushing him softly.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He felt her shift, and lift his head into her lap, still winding her fingers through the knots in his sweat soaked hair. He exhaled, and looked up at her. She looked exhausted, but her concern was palpable. "Just a nightmare," he shuddered slightly. "Lots of drama lately, you know?" Bolin forced a chuckle, shivering slightly once more. Opal hummed in response, and leaned down to place a gentle kiss on his forehead. "You've been pushing yourself too hard," she said. Bolin made a move to shrug, and he realized his entire left arm was numb. He frowned, pulling himself up from the couch. Must have slept on it wrong.

"Opal, I'm fine. I promise. I've just been moving boxes, no big deal! I'm just a little... worried I guess." He shot her a pout. She cocked an eyebrow back at him and sighed to herself. "I know, I know. I'm worried too." She seemed to deflate a little. "Just, promise me you're taking care of yourself." Opal moved to stand, grabbing a glass from the counter and heading over to a nearby sink.

Bolin smiled fondly at her, before rubbing a hand over his tired eyes. In many ways over the past couple weeks, Opal had become his rock. She was so level headed and kind hearted it was hard to be anything but confident and optimistic around her. She brought out the best qualities in himself, and boy, she was sure pretty to boot.

He started to tell her so, but was cut off by the sound of shattering glass and a sudden intake of breath. Opal was staring at him, pale as a sheet, with a hand over her mouth. Bolin's heart dropped. "Opal...?"

She shook her head minutely at him, and Bolin lifted an arm towards her. Or rather, he tried to. His left arm didn't seem to want to listen.

In confusion, Bolin looked down at himself, and felt the blood rush from his face. His thumb wasn't twitching anymore, his whole arm was seizing.

It was like an out of body experience, his hand was clenched impossibly tight but he felt nothing. The muscles along his arm rippling and shuddering in a way he knew should be painful.

And suddenly, a feeling of liquid heat rushed across his chest and down his spine. The breath was punched out of his lungs, and his eyes began to roll, as a riptide of heat wove into every fiber of himself.

He faintly heard Opal scream, before his chest spasmed. A sound like a tea kettle boiling over filled his ears as his limbs flailed and a scalding pain clawed through his brain, and then everything went dark.


	3. Heartache

A/N: wow I should really stop making promises about when I'm going to update next, it always seems to bite me in the butt. I will say, that I am still working on both my ongoing series at the moment, but I will henceforth make no guarantees about update times. I blame this mainly on my hectic school schedule and my insane work hours but I suppose I gotta chalk a bit of it up to pure laziness. I hope there's still a few of you out there who are interested in where I'm going with this! I have a bit of a game plan, but it might take a while to really get the ball rolling plot wise. For now, here's the long awaited Fire Ferret brotherly chapter I suppose! I gotta say, I do enjoy angst more than I probably should, and causing Mako to worry is far too much fun. Please comment with your thoughts, I really appreciate every review :) and I love hearing from you guys! Criticisms or otherwise.

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><p>Mako could have strangled someone. He was supposed to be helping scout out the Earth Kingdom, in an attempt to gain some sort of sense of who was left, who could be trusted, and what had completely fallen apart.<p>

Supposed to, being the key phrase.

Instead, some idiot at the head of the away team had decided Mako's detective skill set and fire bending prowess would be best served at an office. Filling out damage reports and basically being the worlds most unenthusiastic receptionist.

Lin Beifong had given him an almost pitying look when the tasks had been divvied out, sympathy a little cancelled out by the fact that she herself was leading an exciting and ultimately more helpful task group to the north side of the city. Coincidentally, the same part of the city the majority of the paperwork on Mako's desk was piling in from.

He exhaled angrily.

The wall of white papers in front of him did little to bring his mood out of the dark. Not only did he hate reading the reports because they were endlessly dry, they were also depressing and made Mako increasingly antsy to step outside and get to work on fixing things. This person's brother was missing, these poor people lost every ounce of gold and wealth they had, the local soup kitchen was demolished, thousands were out of a job. It was unending.

Mako cracked the knuckles on his left hand absent mindedly.

He longed to be out on the field, to see for himself and help out where he could. At least he could console himself with the fact his family was all safe back with Tenzin. And that Bolin was out trying to help people with his own group.

Bolin...

Mako's brows creased together, concern washing over him. The last time he'd seen Bolin had been a few weeks ago before he'd left with Lin and the remaining police force, and his little brother had been, off, somehow.

He'd cracked jokes and smiled as widely as ever, trying to lift the moods of all the people around him but it didn't reach the light hearted crinkle in his eyes. The same puppy dog eyed and golden hearted Bo as always in many ways, and yet not. There'd been a tiredness about him none the same, and he'd subtly avoided eye contact with Mako which was never a good sign. They could read each other too easy, if there was something Bolin didn't want him to notice, he'd avoid direct looks and make excuses, he'd done it since he was a kid. He was hiding something, and that did not sit well with Mako in the least.

When he thought about it, Bolin had been acting strangely for a while. In any other situation Mako would have called him out on it, forced him to sit down and talk things out in typical Bolin fashion. Knowing him it was probably something that could be solved with a hug and a little pep talk, or at worst, an actual discussion about emotions. His baby brother had a terrible case of bleeding heart syndrome. As kids, Mako had tried everything in his power to hide the darker aspects of everything, the injustices and sadness, from Bolin for that reason. Bo took too much on himself, seeing it as his responsibility to help everyone, to be the hero.

Mako of all people knew that helping everyone wasn't possible.

Hell, helping anyone wasn't really possible from where he was standing.

He rubbed a hand over his eyes, dragging a sheet of paper towards him grudgingly.

"Time to get started I guess," he muttered to no one in particular. The thick black type on the top of the parchment mocked him with it's over formality, he was at least thirty percent sure that whoever typed up the official damage reports purposefully aimed to make his job as soul sucking and difficult as possible. 'To whomever it might concern, although particularly, addressed to the police force and Chief Bei Fong,' the commas and run on sentences were endless, unlike Mako's patience. He somehow managed to stumble through the rest of the report regardless, and hastily scrawled out his initials along with the official stamp.

His job was ultimately pointless at the current time, nothing could be done about any of the damages or stolen property or missing people in the city. There was too much to take on without any solid form of leadership, it was chaos out there and no amount of semi colons or formal language was going to remedy it. Which made Mako ceaselessly frustrated. And yet, the stack of papers continued to stretch upwards into infinity and unfortunately, his job required that he suck it up and Deal With It. For the time being, at least. He hoped.

"Sir!"

Mako's head shot up, startled out of his self pitying thoughts. A young member of the police force Mako couldn't quite place the name of had burst into his office door, sending papers and clips fluttering around the room. It was an almost laughable sight.

Almost.

The young woman looked at him with wide eyes, a hair stuck out of her tight bun and dangled in front of her nose; strangely frazzled looking for such a well kept division. Mako stood from his chair, questions rising to his tongue.

"Sir, there's an emergency," she cut in. Mako's brow furrowed, a forgotten pen clenched in his suddenly tight fist.

"Emergency...?" His mouth felt abruptly dry, a terrible dread swept over him and his knees shook dangerously.

"It's your brother."

The pen fell silently to the floor.

Mako felt like he was swimming, everything seemed to be moving out of focus, echoing in a warbled tone and refracting around him. He was running, or maybe walking. Or maybe he was in a car. Thoughts weren't catching. Time was moving too slowly and too quickly all at once, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

Bolin.

"_Opal's on the radio, sir. She wants to speak with you." _

_Mako stared at her, mouth open and breath wheezing through him. Mako's mind was spiralling apart, twisting away in panicked tethers. Bolin was…. _

"_Sir?"_

_His little brother, his only family. After everything, all of the danger and near death, and Mako hadn't even been there. _

"_Sir!"_

_Mako blinked slowly. "Yeah… Okay." _

_The young woman led him to the radio, a solitary microphone and a chair were pushed towards him. He sat down in a daze as the woman fiddled with the radio, before a crackly voice filtered through. "Mako! Please, Mako come in!" Opal's voice broke, and a shaky breathe filled the connection with static briefly. "Mako? Please, it's Bolin!" Mako's heart lurched at her terrified tone, and he shook himself abruptly. _

"_Opal. Opal what's going on?" _

"_I don't know!" She squeaked, stifling what sounded like a sob, and Mako felt his stomach twist in fear. "He was fine I thought! Or…. Mostly… and then…he was shaking? His arm was just… it was twitching and he looked so confused and then… oh god." _

_Mako felt the remaining blood rush from his face. "Is he….?" Flashes of a life without his only baby brother flickered in front of him, the emptiness and pointlessness of it stole his breath away. It felt like he'd inhaled ice, like it was cracking and freezing inside of him; the usual thrum of warmth he felt under his skin was silent. Not even a spark. _

"_I…I don't know! He won't wake up, Mako!" The world was falling apart around him, he couldn't breathe or think or move. 'Bo…'_

_A hand pressed into his shoulder, the microphone moved away from him. _

"_Opal. It's Lin, listen to me. I need you to place your hand over his mouth, alright? Can you feel any air?" There was a rustling noise, as Opal placed the microphone down and hurried over to where she must have placed Bolin. A faint sound of choked sobs and whispered pleas crackled across the line and it burned like poison in Mako's veins. Her shriek rang clear as day, and it pierced Mako like lightning._

"_He's not breathing!" _

Mako didn't think he could ever forget the pure unadulterated terror in her voice, or the way the world seemed to fold up around him in that moment. They'd had many close calls in the past, many times where Mako found himself thanking the spirits and the gods and any higher power around them for giving them just one more day. Never had they been this close, never had Bolin….

Mako was infinitely grateful for Lin Beifong. In his heartbroken, gutted shock, she'd taken command as always; her level head and straight forward thinking once again saving the day, and ultimately his brother. She'd coached Opal through her panic, managing to get her to use her air bending to force air into his brother's lungs and jump start his own breathing. He was alive, but Mako still couldn't shake the feeling that the world was imploding around him. Bolin had almost died; he'd practically been dead. If not for Lin's quick thinking, and Opal's skills, Mako would be a single child of dead parents.

The horror wasn't over either, something was still terribly wrong with Bolin. After Opal had gotten him breathing once more, and the panic had abated enough to allow for rational thinking, Opal's shaky voice had reported that not only was Bolin not waking up, but he was radiating heat at a dangerous temperature. Mako, still breathless and stunned, had immediately tried to make a break for the door in desperation to get to his brother- ultimately succeeding in collapsing on the floor as his wobbly legs refused to cooperate. Lin had radioed in for transportation to Zaofu immediately, and quietly packed Mako away in the closest seat. Mako saw in her stiff shoulders and tensed jaw that she was worried, and he saw in the way her cold eyes softened, that she was scared for him.

Lin Beifong being scared of anything meant nothing good, and it caused a cold sweat to break out on the back of his neck.

His thoughts tripped and stumbled over each other in waves, alarm bells ringing endlessly in his skull. Mako never dealt well when Bolin was injured or sick, but this was different. This was Bolin nearly dying, and his big brother had been nowhere nearby. This was something that Mako couldn't fix, that he couldn't protect Bo from. This was the crippling reality that Bolin's sunny smile and dimples had almost been lost forever. Mako couldn't rationalize that. There was no Mako without Bolin. It just didn't make sense without the two of them. Things had been different lately, they'd been going separate directions and joining different causes. Meeting Korra had ignited Bolin's self sacrificing nature and desire to help, while it had set Mako on his course towards justice and order. The distance had been strange and confusing for the both of them at first, having spent every waking moment since childhood nearly, constantly being in each other's line of sight. It had been refreshing in a way, Mako couldn't deny that he wasn't enjoying his new life as a separate entity. Having to think only of himself was foreign, but not necessarily unwelcomed.

But Bolin was still…. Bolin. Nothing would change their connection. Distance didn't alter the fact that Mako existed primarily to look out for his baby brother and keep him out of trouble.

And he'd failed. Spectacularly.

Time was skipping ahead for Mako again, and he was suddenly being wrapped up in a hug by Asami, who was looking more frantic than he had ever seen her. Asami and Bolin had become good friends, he knew that, he supposed it just took her tear filled and deeply concerned eyes to really sink in that Bolin meant a lot to her as well. Mako wasn't the only one who's world was collapsing.

Mako wrapped his arms around Asami, leaning into her tight embrace. Bolin meant a lot to many people, he was so earnest and loving and ready to give his all for anyone who sent so much as a smile in his direction. He was endlessly big eyed and pout filled and so overly dramatic and goofy, and he was Mako's family. Bolin was all he had, and he guessed that he'd always assumed he was all Bolin had too. But now, he supposed, he was Asami's family too. And Opal's, and their granny's, and Korra's, and so many others it made his heart swell and ache at the same time.

He buried his face solemnly in Asami's shoulder and he felt arms tighten around him in response. "He's going to be okay, Mako." She whispered, and tears burned behind his eyes as he heard the tremor in her voice.

"He's gotta be." He said quietly.

If Asami heard the break in his own voice, she didn't say anything. Just like he pretended to not notice the gentle shaking of her arms, or the sniffle she tried to choke back.

The two of them slowly made their way towards Chief Beifong's air ship, Asami tightly holding onto the sleeve of his coat the whole way. "Does Korra know?" She asked somewhat tentatively, once they'd gotten close enough to the Chief herself. Lin's face was a stone wall. "We attempted to make contact with Tenzin to let her know the situation, but so far we've received no response. I thought it might be a better idea to wait until we knew the exact situation anyways."

Mako nodded absently. Korra was still healing from her most recent battle, being poisoned had taken everything out of her and none of them really wanted to cause her more stress if they could avoid it. At the same time though, Korra would want to know if something was wrong with Bolin. She would hate it if she was out of the loop when someone was in trouble.

"She'd want to know." Asami's hand tightened on his arm. Lin closed her eyes briefly and said nothing in response, turning to lead them inside the ship. Asami spared Mako a glace and a quick squeeze of his arm, before letting go and trailing after, mumbling something about talking to the pilot. Mako shuffled awkwardly to a seat nearby, lacking the energy or mental capacity to do much else. He felt unbearably weary and yet strangely full of energy all at once. He itched to demand that they pick up the pace and get to his brother, but he felt a deep dread at the prospect of seeing Bolin in pain or worse. He hadn't been breathing for who knows how long exactly, and Mako knew that could have horrible effects when Bolin woke up.

If he ever woke up.

_Hang on Bo,_ he thought desperately, as the announcement for departure rang through the stillness._ Please. I'm on my way, I promise. Big Bro will be there soon._


	4. Melting Away

A/N: Here we go, much sooner than my last update thank goodness. I have a lot more free time this semester than I did previously, so I'm going to push myself to actually work on chapters at a reasonable time. Granted, last time I made a similar statement it backfired, so forgive me if I don't manage to keep true to this. Life has a habit of getting in the way of my motivation :P

I know I left the last chapter at a cruel cliff hanger, so I'm thankful that none of your reviews were particularly angry! I appreciate every one of your comments and messages though, so thank you very much :) I hope none of you will suddenly be struck by the desire to injure me after this next bit... I type as I nervously chuckle to myself. I promise I do also have a plot intended for this story, there's just a bit of buildup we have to cover before the ball really gets rolling. By which I mean, of course, a little more danger for poor Bolin, and yet another cliffhanger. Whoops, heh. Again, please let me know what you think so far, this is a shorter chapter so I'm a little bit nervous about it and I would definitely appreciate the input! I apologize about how short all of these updates have been, when the plot gets a little clearer I will write more, at the moment I don't want to give too much away haha

Well, without further adieu, enjoy!

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><p>Bolin was pretty sure he was dead. Or at least, that something was very, extremely, wrong.<p>

He didn't really have the capability to form coherent sentences, they all seemed to sway in and out like heat waves, rolling over and around him and eventually drifting away. Something was wrong. He didn't know what.

There were dark walls around him, they were dripping down like wax and melting, landing in pools on the scorched earth below. It was unbearably warm, and yet Bolin felt nothing. The walls drooped and pushed together before cascading ever so slowly downwards, more waxy rock surface filling in its place above. _I shouldn't be here,_ Bolin grasped desperately at the wisps of his own thoughts. _Where else would I be? _He wasn't sure where exactly his body was, or if he had one to begin with. Was he floating? He made a move to turn his head and look around, before suddenly forgetting what a head was. _I can't be here. _And yet, he was, while he also seemed very much to not be. Where ever here even was.

Something was very wrong.

Another gooey rock slid free from the stalactites above, making a noise as it rolled on the charred floor. Steam hissed from the cracks and gaps, and a wave of heat erupted upwards. For a moment, Bolin imagined a voice calling his name, bubbling and slithering through the wet heat. "B-boolinnn..." He saw rather than felt his chest rise upwards and down again in a sigh. The ground was beginning to crack apart as the heat increased, a molten gold light spilling upwards and bathing the cave walls in an orange hue. Bubbles popped and fizzed as everything boiled around him.

"Bolin," The steam whispered to him. "Please." Please what? He had nothing to give, he wasn't entirely sure he was a something to start with. He could remember a few faces, some words that he thought might have been names. Things that probably had meaning outside of this heat, like 'friends', and 'avatar' and 'brother', but meant nothing more than dissipating thoughts to him now. He supposed that was a something in its own way, but it was lost to him now. Maybe the steam took it long before.

It was getting hazy, even harder to keep track of his own trains of thought, and he found himself less willing to work up the energy to try. Things that might have been memories washed over him, a birthday, a smiling face, a girl in blue. Fragmented images swirling away and up into the air.

"Bolin!"

The steam had an urgency to it that confused Bolin mildly, the cave was melting, everything was melting, he was nothing. What did the voice want from him? It should let him go, let him sleep. It should give up.

Bolin was suddenly aware of a desire to close his eyes that hadn't existed before. He wasn't aware that he'd had eyes to close, but the concept of closing them and drifting off like a heat wave seemed so appealing. He could fade out like a candle, like heat from pavement on a summer day. Bolin was evaporating at a snails pace, loosing words and meanings. He was nothing, everything was nothing. His chest stopped its rising and falling, a sound like a light breeze sweeping out of him.

The floor quaked and lava burst forth in a plume of white hot heat, and Bolin forgot his own name.

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><p>Since they were kids they'd been inseparable, the dynamic duo, brothers against the world. Even before their parents had died, the two had been close. It was rare, people said, to see two brothers of such different bending to be so tightly knit together. Fire was such an emotion based element, full of passion and speed, whereas earth relied on strength of will and muscle, it depended on solid steps and firm, unyielding drive. And yet, Bolin had been the one with the wide open heart and emotions constantly near the brim, and Mako had been the stubborn one who was so sure of his ways. Their differences brought them together and helped each other push farther with their skills, something the two of them seemed to always intrinsically know better than anyone else. They needed each other to be better.<p>

When their parents had been killed, something had changed in their dynamic that never quite recovered. Mako took it on himself to be the role model, to forage ahead and clear the path for his brother rather than depend on him as well. He stopped looking to learn from his brothers successes and failures, instead opting to ensure his brother only met success, taking the failures on himself. Bolin had been too young to truly be aware of the difference, and adapted to see his brother as his guardian easily.

They were a dynamic duo, just led mainly by the older brother. It was the two of them against the world, but mostly Mako versus everyone else except Bolin. Mako became bolder, more outlined in his determination, and Bolin became softer, blurred by his love for life and others.

The two cared immensely for each other, they loved each other, and they were closer than most other family members, and yet not. A barrier had formed between the two, steadily building itself up with the hardships and the stresses of their day to day lives. When Korra came into the picture, the rift sealed itself as insurmountable. Outwardly they were the same, but the paradigm had set itself and neither knew quite how to break it without destroying everything. Mako was the tough one, Bolin was the goofy one. Mako forgot how to rely on his brother, and Bolin forgot how to rely on himself.

And the crevice widened.

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><p>The land was barren, burnt apart and stale with the smell of charcoal and ashes. A dry heat had settled its way into the ground, the air, into the seam of the atmosphere itself. Lava sputtered forth in plumes, slowly caking sections of the destroyed earth before cracking apart and seeping back into the crust. The remains of a rocky mountain simmered and bubbled, and Bolin's eyes drifted closed.<p>

_Wake up_

_You have to wake up_

A faint breeze drifted lazily over the wastes. Bolin did not stir.

_Bolin, breathe!_

Suddenly, a gust ripped through the dead heat, pulling ashes and charred earth up and away into nothing. It pushed its icy fingers towards Bolin, forcing inside his lungs and his veins and his bones, bringing with it thoughts and solidity and purpose.

Bolin gasped, eyes flying open and a scream trailing along with it.

He wasn't dead, not yet. He was hanging on with his fingernails and the barest sheen of his teeth, but by the spirits he was alive. But something was wrong. There was still a great ominous something terribly, awfully wrong.

"I can't-" the words choked themselves off as smoke once again rose from the earth, he coughed and tears streamed from his sore eyes. The dark walls were melting.

He looked down at himself, at his twitching thumb and shaking arm. He was breathing, he was alive, and suddenly as the pain enveloped him once more and the heat drowned out the sound of his name, he wished more than anything that he wasn't.

"Please," he was shaking apart, boiling inside and out. He didn't know what he was pleading for, who he was pleading to. A vague memory of an older boy, a shadow with firey fists and a red scarf, and a girl with white glowing eyes followed him into the haze.

_Something was wrong._

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><p>Opal anxiously paced across the room, she'd radioed in hours ago and she knew it would be hours more before any help could arrive. The city was in shambles, it was chaos at best. She'd been lucky to make contact with anyone at all, and even more so that people were able to come to her aid. it was probably selfish to ask for Mako and Asami and Cheif Beifong, there were many other families that needed help just as much, and many others that couldn't wait. At the same time, she knew Mako wouldn't be able to help anyone if he knew his brother was in danger. Family was important, after all.<p>

Plus, Opal was allowing herself to be selfish just this once. Bolin was her family too, and he was sick. Unbearably sick. He'd nearly-

She couldn't think about what had almost happened, about how frantic and horrified she'd been when she noticed the unnatural stillness around her boyfriend. She couldn't focus on the pale, light blue tone of his lips, or the blank emptiness in his vibrant green eyes.

He was still here, still fighting. Opal needed to focus on that fact, it was the only thing keeping her together. She shook herself, clearing her thoughts, and settled in the chair she'd placed near the head of Bolin's bed. The cloth soaked in cool water did very little to bring down Bolin's temperature, but the furrow of his brow and the small aborted moans of pain quieted down when it was present, so she did her best.

She absently pushed his sweat soaked hair away from his face. "Oh Bolin," she half sighed half whispered to no one in particular. "What are we going to do?"

Bolin's pallor had gotten more pale and blue tinged over the span of just a few hours, his head tossed about less, his temperature only on the rise with no drop in sight. He was getting worse with every passing minute, and there was little Opal could do but watch. Bolin hadn't woken up for a moment since his collapse, not even blearily or half awake. He ceased shuddering and twitching as soon as he'd hit the floor, and there'd been very little movement since. Opal had no idea what was going on, what she could do, what anyone could really do.

He'd been fine, they'd been seeing each other every day for the past two weeks or so, helping move supplies and scout out the far edges of the earth kingdom to see who needed help. Sure, it was a lot of work and a lot of long days, but other than an early bed time Bolin had seemed fine.

Well, maybe not fine. He'd been having frequent nightmares, which left him often unable to sleep for hours. He'd been a bit more subdued than usual and more easily spooked, but she'd passed that off as a symptom of a lack of sleep. She'd been worried about him, but she trusted him to tell her what was going on. Opal knew the new found knowledge of being a lavabender, and now the only lavabender alive, was a lot to take in, and probably very stressful. He'd been practicing as much as one possibly could with such a dangerous element, but he'd often vent frustrations to her about how much there was to learn and how difficult it was without a teacher. Granted, Bolin never really had much of a teacher for his own element, but lava was a whole new field. It seemed like there were expectations that others had for him now, knowing this new skill. They seemed surprised that he hadn't immediately mastered it, and wanted him to use his 'lava powers' for even the most mundane tasks. Bolin told her once that the lava still scared him, that he thought of how close they'd come in the cave, and how Ghazan had collapsed a building on himself with his own element. She'd heard him cry out in his sleep, things about melting away and boiling apart.

She'd heard the stories too of how he'd come to discover his new ability, and while she was proud of her boyfriend for being so brave and determined, she was afraid for him. He'd stopped an entire wall of rushing lava with a skill he wasn't sure he had, and could have very well died in the process. She wondered what kind of strain that must have put him through. It seemed like, to her at least, every time he practiced or used lava bending in combat, it exhausted him. As though he'd given everything he had, something that she'd never seen with other benders unless they'd been bending for hours.

Bolin tossed his head lightly, a weak moan of pain trailing from his dry lips. Opal re-soaked the cloth.

"We'll get through this, Bo. Just hang on." She said, kissing his cheek.

"Please hang on."


End file.
